From shark bite to Olympic spotlight.
Hagen Smith, a Pacific Palisades native and an ex-UCLA volleyball setter, told The California Post last week he’s made it his mission to have exactly that on his resume.
Smith’s foot was snared by an ocean predator roughly a decade and a half ago, when he was 15, after he had taken a dip in the water at Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles following a volleyball tournament.
Initially, he said he thought he was attacked by a stingray, but once he escaped to a nearby lifegaurd tower, he noticed blood “everywhere,” and realized it something far more aggressive that got him.
“I got cut up,” he said, “bit all over across my toes and a little bit on my foot. “
Smith needed around 20-30 stitches to close the wounds, and while he was shaken up, he went on to make a complete recovery.
He starred for the Bruins just a few years after the incident, and following graduation, he became a household name in the AVP.
But now he’s hoping the next milestone stop in his journey from surviving an encounter with a shark is the Olympics.
“For our sport in the last two decades,” the 31-year-old said, “that’s been the pinnacle of beach volleyball.”
The Olympics have always been important to Smith, as his father, UCLA volleyball legend Sinjin Smith, represented the United States in the 1996 Games.
But with the action slated to come near his backyard in Long Beach in 2028, he said his desire to be part of America’s team has only grown further.
“It’s been a dream of mine since I can remember,” Hagen said. “My dad, being who he is, what he’s done for the sport and being in the first Olympics, it’s always been that dream, that goal of mine.”
There are several routes Hagen can take to earn a spot on the US roster — but most involve him winning a bunch on the international circuit over the next two years.
“There’s a long way to go,” he said. “But that is the ultimate goal.”
Smith doesn’t have a partner that he wants to make his run to the Olympics with just yet, although he’s hoping to attract one soon — perhaps even this weekend, when he and other pro volleyball stars will play at the same location that will host beach volleyball at the 28 Games.
AVP League will officially stop at Alamitos Beach in Long Beach on July 11-12, and while Smith’s priority is to record some wins for his LA Launch squad, he said the Olympics will be on his mind.
“It’ll be cool to be the test run for the Olympics,” he said. “That’ll be a good opportunity for us to see how it plays down there.”
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